Work

A Body‐Coupled Electronic Skin With Branch‐Enhanced Grid Architecture for Fine Tactile Sensing

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and robotics, electronic skin is essential for high‐precision and self‐powered human–machine interaction. However, current strategies for improving sensing accuracy often rely on high‐density sensor arrays or complex signal decoupling, which increase structural complexity and integration burden. Herein, a branch‐enhanced grid electronic skin is developed based on body‐coupled sensing of the power‐frequency electric field. The body‐coupled mechanism enables continuous and stable sensing without an external power supply, while the branched network extends the active sensing region into the grid gaps and improves the continuity of voltage responses during sliding. Consequently, branch‐enhanced grid electronic skin enables accurate recognition of point‐touch positions (5 mm resolution and 98.6% accuracy), representative sliding trajectories (91% accuracy), and sliding speeds (7.7% mean relative error). As a proof of concept, branch‐enhanced grid electronic skin is demonstrated in safe robotic‐arm interaction, robot motion control, and virtual vehicle control. This work establishes a promising design strategy for self‐powered electronic skins toward high‐precision and highly integrated human–machine interaction.

Source: Energy & environment materials

DOI: 10.1002/eem2.70503